The first thing most people notice at Wing Shack is the aroma.
Fresh wings hiss as they come out of the fryer. House-made ranch is mixed for another day's service. Rows of sauces wait to coat each order, from longtime favorites to seasonal creations inspired by recipes discovered hundreds of miles away. Before a single basket reaches a table, cooks move through a rhythm refined over thousands of shifts, preparing food that has become familiar to generations of Northern Colorado families.
Most guests don't think about what happened before that first bite. They simply know the wings taste superior.
For Brian Seifried, founder of Wing Shack and owner of Centennial Hospitality Group, and Sam Corliss, partner at Centennial Hospitality Group, that's exactly the goal. While Centennial Hospitality Group has grown to include Wing Shack, Luna's Tacos & Tequila, and Sexy Sammies, the philosophy behind every restaurant still traces back to the small Wing Shack that opened in Garden City more than two decades ago.
"We want to feed people food that we would feed our own kids and our own friends and family in our home," Brian says. "There are a lot of places businesses can cut corners, but we've always tried to stay true to what we do."
That mindset doesn't begin with recipes. It begins with intention.
Wing Shack has earned a loyal following for its fresh, never-frozen wings, house-made ranch, and sauces prepared in-house rather than pulled from a package. As the company has expanded, Brian says the challenge has never been simply opening more restaurants. It's been protecting the decisions that made people fall in love with the original.
Those decisions are often invisible to guests.
Fresh ingredients cost more. Making sauces from scratch takes more time. Even seemingly small choices—like continuing to squeeze fresh limes by hand for Luna's rather than buying bottled juice—reflect a larger philosophy shared across every Centennial Hospitality Group concept: convenience should never replace quality simply because the company has grown.
That same philosophy fuels one of Brian's favorite parts of the business—creating flavor.
A family vacation rarely ends with souvenirs alone. More often, it ends with notebooks full of ideas. A bowl of spicy Korean ramen inspires a new sauce. A neighborhood restaurant in Aurora introduces a chili crunch worth recreating. A customer who routinely asks for curry mixed
into a favorite wing sauce eventually sparks a recipe of its own. Even home becomes part of the creative process, with Brian's kitchen regularly serving as the company's first test kitchen.
"Our house is his test kitchen," Sam says with a laugh.
For Brian, inspiration has never been limited to professional kitchens. It comes from conversations, travel, employees, guests, and the simple excitement of discovering something worth sharing. Some ideas become permanent menu items. Others appear for a season before making room for the next experiment. Every new flavor is another opportunity to give regulars a reason to come back while staying true to the food that built Wing Shack's reputation in the first place.
That balance—between consistency and creativity—is part of what has kept the restaurant relevant for more than 20 years. Guests know the classics will still be there, but they also know there is always the possibility of discovering a new favorite.
The same intentionality that shapes the menu also shapes everything surrounding it.
Brian notices fingerprints on the front door. He notices music that's a little too loud, tables that aren't quite straight, or a dining room that doesn't feel ready for guests. They're details most customers will never consciously remember, yet together they define the experience long before the food reaches the table.
For Brian, hospitality isn't reserved for upscale dining rooms or special occasions. Whether someone walks into the original Garden City location wearing work boots after a long shift or gathers friends for dinner at Luna's, they deserve the same feeling: that the people serving them genuinely care.
That expectation extends throughout the company.
On busy Friday nights, it isn't unusual to find Brian running food while Sam makes her way through the dining room, greeting regulars by name before stepping behind the bar to help with dishes. Leadership isn't something reserved for an office.
"We try to model that there's no job that's beneath anyone in the restaurant," Sam says.
Those moments say as much about the company's culture as any mission statement ever could. New employees certainly learn the company's values during training, but they see them reinforced every time a leader jumps in during a rush, notices the little things, or chooses people over convenience.
Maintaining that culture has become one of Brian's greatest priorities as Centennial Hospitality Group has grown from a single restaurant to 22 locations across Colorado and Wyoming. Growth brings new systems, new communities, and new challenges, but he believes the company's identity depends on preserving the values that existed when there was only one Wing Shack.
"I think one of the most challenging parts of our job... is how do we stay who we are as we continue to grow?" Brian says.
Part of that answer is found in the people who choose to stay.
Many members of the leadership team first joined the company as hourly employees or college students. Over the years, they've become general managers, directors, and executives who now pass those same expectations to the next generation of employees. The result is a culture where experience is valued, relationships are long-lasting, and leadership grows from within.
For Sam, that growth has also created opportunities beyond the restaurants themselves.
As her role has evolved, she's become increasingly involved with nonprofit organizations, schools, and community boards throughout Northern Colorado. She sees those relationships as a natural extension of the company's purpose, creating opportunities not only for employees, but for the communities the restaurants call home.
"Teaching some of these women that they can have the opportunity to grow in leadership... has been really exciting," Sam says.
That same mindset influences how Centennial Hospitality Group gives back. Over the years, the company has supported schools, youth organizations, food security initiatives, literacy programs, and countless community events. As new restaurants open, local leaders help identify organizations making a meaningful difference in their own communities, allowing each location to remain connected to the people it serves.
For Brian and Sam, feeding people has never stopped at the restaurant door.
The recipes matter. The ingredients matter. The details matter. But each one exists for the same reason—to create a place where great food and genuine hospitality come together so naturally that guests rarely think about either one. They simply know they'll be back.
"We treat our guests and our vendors like friends, and our team like family." — Samantha Corliss
"We want to feed people food that we would feed our own kids and our own friends and family in our home." — Brian Seifried
"There are a lot of places businesses can cut corners, but we've always tried to stay true to what we do." — Brian Seifried